Rants on Bangalore's traffic situation

This is a discussion on Rants on Bangalore's traffic situation within Street Experiences, part of the Buckle Up category; Originally Posted by narsi_6989
Brace for traffic. Trailer stuck in the railway underpass near RMZ infinity Old Madras Road, towards ...

What a moron that driver was. But it was very close. My hunch is that he would have gone under it when the truck was loaded and on his return journey he would have got stuck.

Reversing it would be a pain and finding an alternate route will be even difficult. Just hope it fits in the left underbridge and goes through.
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People just dont seem to learn. Today, someone seems to have completely knocked down the height barrier. I believe this time the force was pretty high due to the speed. The underbridge is blocked completely and people are forced to take the left underpass which is right after a bus stop. Hence it has created a crawl upto the previous signal. I was on my Ninja hence this was not a big issue and I reached office in a record time due to lessening traffic. I am not sure if it will be cleared anytime soon.

People just dont seem to learn. Today, someone seems to have completely knocked down the height barrier. I believe this time the force was pretty high due to the speed. The underbridge is blocked completely and people are forced to take the left underpass which is right after a bus stop. Hence it has created a crawl upto the previous signal. I was on my Ninja hence this was not a big issue and I reached office in a record time due to lessening traffic. I am not sure if it will be cleared anytime soon.

Nope. I don't think so it's new. Last time when the truck got stuck and while removing it, it barrier fell down. It was never put back in place. And today someone got stuck it seems. When I saw it was not fixed last time around, I expected someone to get stuck in the railway bridge itself.

The road is clogged from the bridge till big bazaar signal. I just came to RMZ

This Project will install an advanced traffic information and management system, including signalling system and traffic congestion length measurement sensor, in Bangalore city, Karnataka. As per the notification, this project is expected to contribute towards strengthening connectivity and industrial competitiveness of the local economy by improving traffic congestion and urban environment.

Will we see anything out of this?
Japan grants aid for Bangalore’s advanced traffic information and management.

Mark my words, Japanese would just see their money and their technology just vanish in front of their eyes. All this is nothing but empty talk. This is just like the "We will make Bangalore another Singapore" claim made by a few politicians way back in the year 2000 (17 years before).

Mark my words, Japanese would just see their money and their technology just vanish in front of their eyes. All this is nothing but empty talk. This is just like the "We will make Bangalore another Singapore" claim made by a few politicians way back in the year 2000 (17 years before).

More than the technology mentioned above, nearly half of the traffic woes will go off if people adhere to lane discipline. When we go abroad, we follow traffic rules and regulations. The moment we land on Indian shores, we revert back to the old habit.
Till such time this habit persists in us, no traffic technology can come to our aid.

More than the technology mentioned above, nearly half of the traffic woes will go off if people adhere to lane discipline. When we go abroad, we follow traffic rules and regulations. The moment we land on Indian shores, we revert back to the old habit.

Good point Suresh. Traffic Discipline and courtesy towards others on the road are utterly lacking here. Even though I try to follow the rules, sticking to my lanes etc, at times the only way to move ahead is to bend the rule.

Elaborating a scenario from yesterday.
I took the Chinnapanahalli Road, from Jeevika hospital towards Grafite India. For people who do not know, the width of this road would be 9-10 feet at best.
Soon, I saw a school bus parked (completely empty, without even the driver) on the opposite side of the road and the traffic coming from the opposite direction coming in my lane and inching ahead. I stopped my car giving enough space to oncoming traffic. There was an unending flow of traffic and soon the vehicles behind me began honking incessantly for me to move ahead. The Tempo Traveler behind me was also giving me high beams. All this while, traffic continued to flow from the other side.

NO ONE had the courtesy there to stop and allow this side of traffic to flow.
Soon, a few drivers (I think) came from behind and started asking me to go ahead. Irritated (my mistake), I turned on my high beam and moved ahead. Needless to say, the traffic from other end also came and we were now in a perfect deadlock. Neither of us could back away as we were blocked. I turned off my ignition and sat.
Thankfully, the anger and attention of people behind me now turned to the bus and the hunt began to find driver. Around 5 minutes later, he appeared and drove the bus away, clearing the jam. He got an earful from almost everyone at the site, while I enjoyed the scene.

The point is, sometimes even if we want to behave the way we would while driving abroad, the environment around us won't allow us !

I drove quite a bit in Bangalore last week and it was a revelation. I was expecting decent roads with at least a bit of road sense. What I found is a surprising lack of empathy on the road. No one stops for pedestrians, no one adheres to lane discipline and no one likes to wait before overtaking. It is the same as any other city, except Mumbai perhaps. This city has the most educated folks in the country working in the most respected companies, yet the way people drive is reminiscent of a small town. People who have to commute everyday deserve a lot of sympathy for tolerating the traffic.

People who have to commute everyday deserve a lot of sympathy for tolerating the traffic.

A petrolhead like me shifted from manual to automatic transmission due to this mad traffic in Bangalore where concept of FIFO never exists. Simple example can illustrate what I am talking about. You stop at junction and want to take a right turn, suddenly two TT will come next to you blocking the left lane. They will be joined by wannabe schumachers (cabbies) and autos along with numerous two wheelers. Now even if someone wants to go straight won't be able to go because of this madness and suddenly you find yourself being the last vehicle to move because that TT guy wanted to do a Uturn after coming from left lane. This is the sad state of affairs in Bangalore and it gets worse if the road is narrow (which most them are) and you have water tanker traffic as well. It becomes a half a km trail where the speed is governed by the self and financial interests of that guy driving at an ant's pace because he wants to talk to somone on phone. And, he ensures that people behind him also suffer this labour pain till he is done.[/quote]

Elaborating a scenario from yesterday.
I took the Chinnapanahalli Road, from Jeevika hospital towards Grafite India. For people who do not know, the width of this road would be 9-10 feet at best.

The point is, sometimes even if we want to behave the way we would while driving abroad, the environment around us won't allow us !

True that. What our so called techies lack is common sense. Educated and employed people behave like fools. In such a situation, as long as we are right, we should let nature take care of the rest. There is no point in arguing or trying to educate people. Let them get stuck in the jam and waste time, that time they will understand. Before, the situation on this road was much worse. People used to assume it as a one way from both sides and there was no queue discipline at all. Later on, things became better, barring the behaviour by two wheelers.

About foreign countries, yes, they have the common sense that we dont have. I have experienced such situations in narrow streets. The logic is simple. You go after you let one pass, if there is a queue on both sides. It solves the problem so easily. Maybe commuters are best taught the hard way. Now even on the Alpine Eco road, the queue of vehicles is usually maintained, except for a couple of rogue cabs and some stupid white board cars as well. I have completely taken off these routes from my daily commute. Hence, I get to commute in peace.

The logic is simple. You go after you let one pass, if there is a queue on both sides. It solves the problem so easily. Maybe commuters are best taught the hard way. .

Just to shave a few minutes of their commute time, people jump queues, drive/ride in opposite direction, deliberately block the access to other vehicles thereby depriving others the peace of mind on road. One can teach an illiterate person, but teaching an "educated" moron is next to impossible.

Lot of unscrupulous elements are there in ITPL whitefield area. Had a run in with few of them. One of them fought with me for totally mindless reason. Totally disgusted with shameless attitude of this is my land bully tatctics in south especially Bangalore.

Traffic is terrible but what makes it worse is insensitive attitude shown by highly educated salaried class drivers.

Metro and construction activity in and around whitefield has made pollution worse.

What's the latest update on the White topping exercise on the Outer Ring Road between Rammurthy Nagar and Hebbal & back (reverse direction) ?

For someone traveling from Indiranagar to Sahakarnagar is it better to avoid the ORR and stick to the city route via Benson town, Bellary Road ?

I am not sure on the progress of work but for sure this input should help you.

A friend taking a train from Yeshwantpur station from his Kaggadasapura home took ORR from Kasturinagar till BEL Circle at 0630PM last evening as that was the fastest route shown and he indeed reached the station by 0720PM which I consider as really fast on a Saturday evening.

On the other hand , I myself had been to Coles Park from Yelahanka last noon via New BEL Road (as Hebbal towards city still showed long jam) and returned via Bellary road. Traffic overall was very less due to lot of them who are out of town.

Last edited by paragsachania : 24th December 2017 at 08:27.
Reason: Corrected typo